Red Carpet

Angel's International Feat

Thursday, 19 November 2009 19:43 AJPress

(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

ANGEL Locsin’s abrupt transfer from the GMA Network to ABSCBN early two years was met with much criticism but Angel’s recent nomination at the 37th International Emmy Awards will certainly erase all traces of negative publicity. The young actress is nominated for Best Actress for her portrayal of Lyka, her very first role since the network transfer, in the highly successful ‘fantaserye’ Lobo. For weeks, Pinoy audiences tuned in to the series and was charmed by Lyka, a werewolf in love with a mortal (played by Piolo Pascual).

Angel Locsin will compete with Emma de Caunes for Night Birds from France, Cecilia Suarez for Capadocia from Mexico and Julie Walters for A Short Stay in Switzerland. Julie Walters is already a recognized actress both in the US and in her homeland England having appeared as Molly Weasley in the Harry Potter films, and an award-winning one at that, thus making Angel’s inclusion as nominees all the more prestigious.

RP audiences get a taste of "Sweeney Todd"

Thursday, 12 November 2009 18:03 Rochelle C. Pangilinan | AJPress Manila

Mayhem, Murder & Music Equal Great Entertainment.

ANY Hollywood aficionado has an idea of the genius which lies in Tim Burton’s mind. Still, for the director’s numerous lauded projects, he is best known for jumpstarting Johnny Depp’s movie career with Edward Scissorhands. The two worked on several other successful projects and most recently joined forces two years ago with the film version of the Broadway musical Sweeney Todd.

No doubt that it helped greatly having Tim and Johnny’s names attached to it. The musical was first staged in Broadway in 1979 based on the 1973 play of the same name. It tells the story of Benjamin Barker, a barber full of hope of a bright future in London as he starts his new life as a husband to a young woman (Lucy) and a father to a lovely daughter (Johanna). Their bliss are interrupted when Judge Turpin, who desired Lucy, has Benjamin arrested on false charges and forced to relocate. Fifteen years later, Benjamin, now calling himself Sweeney Todd, returns to London to find his long lost family and, of course, to exact revenge on Judge Turpin with the help of Mrs. Lovette and her meatpies. The stage musical won a total of eight Tony Awards and a New York Drama Critics Circle Award for best score and lyrics and is considered by many as one of the greatest musical scores (by Stephen Sondheim) of the 20th century. The leads, Sweeney and Mrs. Lovette, are two of the most unforgettable characters ever to come out of Broadway.

Bb. Pilipinas Universe 2009 Pamela Bianca Manalo: Beauty queen extraordinaire

Thursday, 15 October 2009 20:26 Joseph Pimentel | AJPress Los Angeles

PAMELA Bianca Manalo always looked up to her older sister.

From the moment she saw her sister, Katherine Anne Manalo, being crowned Ms. Philippines in 2002, then 15-year-old Pamela Bianca knew she wanted to follow her older sister’s footsteps.

"I said to myself, ‘someday I’m going to be a beauty queen as well,’" recalls Pamela Manalo to the Asian Journal.

Dreaming big paid off for the younger Manalo seven years later.

‘Lovers in Paris’: The Pinoy way

Thursday, 01 October 2009 22:52 Rochelle C. Pangilinan | AJPress

(2 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)

The Korean drama which introduced as to Vivian and Carlo and transformed Kitchie Nadal’s heartfelt ditty Wag na ‘Wag Mong Sasabihin into a "national anthem" back in 2004 gets a PInoy remake.
Lovers in Paris, the Pinoy version brought to us by the ABS-CBN network, stars Piolo Pascual, one of today’s hottest dramatic actors, and KC Concepcion, who proves she has greater thespic skills to show than her charming poses and bright smiles that her commercial endorsements allow her to.
Before the show’s premiere last Sept. 28, speculations were rife of excess production costs and other production issues. Apparently, news of a remake of Lovers in Paris already made rounds in the Internet as early as March of this year, but it wasn’t until five months later when the show actually premiered because some scenes had to be redone and reshot. However, for many teleserye fans, these rumors only made the anticipation even greater.

Cine Europa 12 offers a feast of the best of European cinema

Thursday, 10 September 2009 19:58 Rochelle C. Pangilinan | AJPress Manila

(1 vote, average: 5.00 out of 5)

Cine Europa 12 offers a feast of the best of European cinema

FILIPINO film afficionados should brace themselves. The film festival which introduced us to a group of students having the time of their lives in Barcelona in The Spanish Apartment and a feuding couple in search of their true love in the upper-class suburbs in Sweden in Adam and Eva, took us to the drug-infested streets of Edinburgh, Scotland in Trainspotting and the shoddy barges in Glasgow, Scotland in Young Adam and gave us a glimpse of the harsh realities of everyday life in Soviet-occupied Czechoslovakia in Kolja and senseless killings in Rwanda in Shooting Dogs is now on its 12th year.

Cine Europa officially opens on Sept. 11 at Shangri-la Plaza and will run until Sept. 20 with 18 European films—from Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.